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Health insurance - why bother?

We had a nice little meeting today at work, some of you may have heard me complain that I have insurance yet can't afford to go to the doctor cos I can't afford the deductible, well now they've quintupled it!

Actually the only ones dancing are the insurance industry, throwing our money in the air and dancing as it rains down on 'em. So glad we didn't get a public option to buy in to medicare - what would all these insurance crooks do with us all on a non-profit plan?

Yeah, tell me about it. I was hospitalized last year for emergency surgery. Being self-employed I could only afford a crappy insurance policy that left me owing after the deductible and discounts over $40K to the hospital, doctors etc. Couple that with the economic downturn which cut my income to a third of what I need just to live on. I tried for a more comprehensive policy but was turned down due to my medical record (pre-existing condition). Sure, they offered me a guaranteed issue non-underwritten plan with monthly premiums higher than what I pay for rent and a $15-20K out of pocket cap.

So now there are new pre-existing plans as setup by the new law which kicked in September. The federal plan premium is only about 40% more per month than my existing piece of crap with an out of pocket cap of $2.5K. But I have to be without insurance for six months to qualify.

By that time the wonderful Republicans and Tea Party flacks of the insurance industry who insist there is nothing wrong with health coverage in America will probably repeal the affordable health care bill.

Swords, that's terrible, but I can't say I'm surprised. I hope you don't need to see a doctor regularly.That's what happens when Insurance is a business out to make money like every other business is out there.

I've gone without medical insurance for years now because I have a preexisting condition and can't get it through my job, even Aflac denied me. My only option right now is to get married and get under my fiance's policy. It's super cheap because it's through the Teamsters Union, but they deny every single claim the first time you send it, always, without fail. So it's still gonna be a fight when I am covered.

Really, why bother carrying it at all if it will cost you more for the year plus deductibles? I'm the last person to advocate not regularly going to a professional, but for many people it's cheaper to pay out of pocket the one or two times you do need to go. I know a lot of people who have dropped it after doing the math.

Our premiums are only up a little, it's the deductible that is now so high. I mean there's really no difference between not being able to go before and not being able to go now, it's just sorta, punctuated! The guy doing the presentation said we insurance holders need to start using the internet to self diagnose and treat ourselves and they gave us a number of some over the phone doctor who will supposedly write non-narcotic prescriptions for and fax them to our local pharmacy.

Dex if you're sick, you can't get insurance. You have to buy it when there's nothing wrong with you and then they drop you when something does go wrong! LOL It's a total scam.

I can relate. Our premiums jumped 25%, deductibles stayed the same, but the annual out of pocket max doubled.

My wife nearly lost her life to a medical emergency several months ago, and despite having insurance, we now owe several tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills. She has two more surgeries to undergo.\ in the next year and a half. The first one came to half a mill that was billed to insurance. So of course we had to pay up to our max out of pocket. The next two surgeries will also take us to our max out of pockets. So in summary, we are going to be in medical debt for a long, long time to come. To top it all off, they are being uber aggressive in getting their money and are being real %%$'s when it comes to payment arrangements. In other words, they don't want to do payments and want payment in full hahah! The hospital is now threatening to sue us. Oh the joys of the US medical systems. What a pathetic disaster it is. I'm thoroughly disgusted!